These shortbread cookies are crisp and crumbly. They are fairly thin, which creates a nice ratio of topping to biscuit. I really like crumbly shortbread and the use of cornstarch instead of part of the flour makes these quite crumbly. Keep an eye on them as they bake; their thinness can cause them to go from perfect to a bit overdone in a short preiod of time.
Some people loved the peppermint topping, which was very good, but I loved the chocolate covered espresso bean shortbreads. They had an extra coffee kick that only espresso beans can provide, but they’re not overwhelming because of the chocolate. My chocolate covered espresso beans had a fairly thick dark chocolate coating. I personally wouldn’t have minded even more coffee, but I think that having a bit more chocolate gives them a more widespread appeal.
You can’t go wrong with shorbread around the holidays and you definately can’t deny that these look gorgeous on a cookie plate. Easy to make and even easier to eat.

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9×13 inch sheet/jelly roll pan with parchment or aluminum foil.
Combine butter, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add flour, corstarch and vanilla and pulse until dough comes together into a ball.
Press into prepared baking sheet (dough should be about ¼ inch thick). It’s ok if it doesn’t go all the way into the corners of the pan. Spread peppermint sticks over half the batter and chocolate covered espresso beans over the other half. Press lightly but firmly into the dough.
Bake at 325F for 30-40 minutes, until light golden brown.
Cool for 5 minutes, then slice into small rectangles with a sharp knife. Let cool in pan.
Makes 36 cookies.

ryn: The pie was great. I was really surprised about the streusel too, since there was so little fat in it and it contained water. I love the pie filling, in fact, I’ll make it again and bake it in ramekins without the crust. I used the Kroger fat free sweetened cond. milk and it was on sale for 1.00. Kroger is the parent company of Ralphs. So no need to buy the expensive eagle brand.

Sweets and I just treated ourselves to ice cream cones for our walk home yesterday. The fates agreed with us and it didn’t rain on us! It was fun catching the envious looks of cars passing us on the street- those crazy kids, ice cream in this weather?!, but we could tell they were just jealous

So what does this have to do with your post? I had a peppermint candy ice cream cone, and Sweets had a Tiger Stripe one (coffee ice cream with fudge stripes and crushed espresso beans)- just like your shortbread.

Through our sharing we realized the perfect complement of these two flavors side by side- its smashing!

Anyone have a recipe for chocolate covered espresso beans that have a THICK coating of chocolate? I tried just dipping them in a melted chocolate and got a very wimpy coating. I need a DARK chocolate taste. Thanks!